A clear, scholarly introduction to the Epistle of Barnabas — the twenty-one-chapter anonymous Greek tract written between AD 70 and AD 135, probably in Alexandria. Its central concern is showing that the Old Testament rightly understood points forward to Christ. The closing chapters (18–21) present the same 'Two Ways' moral teaching that opens the Didache.
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Bible Sundays study guide
The Epistle of Barnabas is a twenty-one-chapter anonymous Greek tract written between AD 70 and AD 135, probably in Alexandria. Its central concern is showing that the Old Testament rightly understood points forward to Christ, and that the literal observances of Mosaic law (sacrifices, food laws, sabbaths) were always meant to be read spiritually. The closing chapters (18–21) present a 'Two Ways' moral catechism — the same teaching that opens the Didache.
Like the Shepherd of Hermas, Barnabas is bound into the New Testament section of Codex Sinaiticus — a sign that some fourth-century Christians regarded it as borderline Scripture. Clement of Alexandria and Origen treat it as the work of the Barnabas who travelled with Paul, though most modern scholars regard the attribution as later. The Muratorian Fragment does not list it. It was widely read but never universally received as canonical.
Barnabas is the earliest sustained Christian argument that the Old Testament is to be read 'spiritually' (i.e., christologically and typologically) rather than 'literally.' Its handling of the food laws (chapter 10), the sabbath and the 'eighth day' (chapter 15), and the temple (chapter 16) is a foundational text for understanding how early Christianity claimed continuity with Israel while diverging from second-century Judaism. Read it alongside Hebrews and you will see two parallel attempts at the same argument — one restrained and careful, one bolder.
Almost certainly not. The attribution is early (Clement of Alexandria, Origen) but the contents reflect a slightly later period — probably AD 90 to AD 135. It is genuinely 'of Barnabas' only in the sense of being written in his theological circle.
Most scholars date it between AD 70 and AD 135. Its references to the destruction of the Jerusalem temple set the earliest possible date; its silence about the second Jewish revolt sets the latest.
Chapters 18–21 of Barnabas and chapters 1–6 of the Didache share a common 'Two Ways' source — perhaps an early Jewish or Jewish-Christian moral catechism that both works inherited.
Because by the fourth century the church clearly distinguished writings of apostles and apostolic companions from later derivative works. Barnabas was widely respected — bound into Codex Sinaiticus — but recognised as not apostolic in origin.
That every literal commandment of the Mosaic law was always meant to be read spiritually — pointing forward to Christ. The food laws (chapter 10) and the temple (chapter 16), Barnabas argues, were never meant to be observed materially in the way Israel observed them.
Barnabas argues that Christians celebrate not the sabbath (the seventh day) but the eighth day — the resurrection — which is the beginning of a new world. It is one of the earliest defenses of Sunday as the Christian day of worship.
The full text in the Roberts–Donaldson nineteenth-century English translation is in the public domain and freely available at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org) and Early Christian Writings (earlychristianwritings.com).
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